In the transportation industry, a large amount of cargo is shipped to and from numerous places around world on a daily basis. Oftentimes, such cargo is transported in trailers or other cargo containers that can be easily coupled to different vehicles for transport to a destination.
Monitoring the status of cargo in trailers (as well as in other cargo containers) is very important. For example, being able to know whether a particular trailer is or is not loaded with cargo is important for shipping companies and/or trailer owners. One way to know whether a particular trailer is or is not loaded with cargo is to manually open the door of the trailer and look inside. However, this can be burdensome as it requires a person to be physically located at the trailer and it can be a very time-consuming process (particularly in situations where there are large numbers of trailers being monitored). Another way to know whether a particular trailer is or is not loaded with cargo is to use an acoustic sensor to sense whether cargo is loaded in the trailer. However, such acoustic sensor systems are troublesome because they are typically difficult to configure and calibrate, and oftentimes require manual adjustments by a user during operation.
Thus, it would be beneficial to provide an improved way to monitor cargo.